Why Subscribe to College Towns?
College Towns is where urbanism meets higher education.
The articles here are all original analysis or commentary on aspects of urbanism, from auto-centric development in the US, to mega-cities in East Asia, and all forms of public transport, aesthetics, and architecture in between.
The other focus of the site is on broader education issues, with a special focus on the higher education sector. Often, College Towns offers articles that combine both aspects such as walking to school or dying college spaces.
I think our best articles often combine both education and urbanism. Typical urbanist content may only tangentially connect with education. Likewise, education outlets do not usually take an urbanist lens on issues. College Towns brings both of these spaces together like no other platform.
Posts are made once a week and once a month. Once a month, we will feature a full original analysis or commentary article. On the other weeks, the site will post its Around the College Town links round-up. These round-ups mostly cover news that may have fallen through the cracks rather than the big events.
You can see the publication archives for the types of articles that we post here on College Towns.
Interested in Writing an Article for College Towns?
You can be a part of the College Town community by commenting on posts, sharing articles, or subscribing. We have had guest posts from former bus drivers on college town transit systems, professors and researchers on issues in higher ed and housing, and other writers on reviving dead malls.
If you are interested in writing for College Towns, please reach out to Ryan M. Allen for inquiries. We are always looking for contributors.
Fund the College Towns Research Grant
College Towns will always make its content freely available to the community. As the founder and editor-in-chief, I believe that the importance of getting eyeballs onto the work here means we should not use paywalls. However, I have opened paid pledges to the site for those interested in supporting the mission.
The pledges to the site will be considered as the College Towns Research Grant (CTRG). A lot of content is rooted in my research, especially physically visiting the places I write about; the CTRG helps the site continue to offer original content in a timely manner. I have capped the pledges to the lowest figure Substack allows.
Thank you for your readership and consideration of College Towns. You can see a bit more of my thoughts on the site and its future in my 1-year anniversary article from October 2025.
Happy 1st Birthday to College Towns
Note: I am just going to let you know upfront that I don’t think people will like this article that much. It is like those old clip shows from pre-streaming era TV—always a bummer to realize the show you were watching was one of those episodes.
